"This film is absolutely magical. People (some North American audiences) hoping to witness a standard action movie will undoubtably be disappointed but fans of Hou Hsiao Hsien's films, Flight of the Red Balloon, and Three Times will be transfixed by his latest effort. Yes, the film is deliberately slow paced, all the better to allow the many hallucinartory scenes to burrow into the subconscious. I did not want this film to end."

"What critics love at Cannes does not always work in North America. Visually sumptuous, the Assassin fails to tell a story. Sadly lacking in narrative, the cinematography cannot save this film.
The slow pace of this movie could not hold my attention. I found myself drifting off to sleep in the middle of it. I woke up to find out that I did not miss very much when the end of the movie came along."